Something like the Human Genome Project—that was an internationally sponsored research project.

I asked:

How would different interest groups resolve their conflicts in a structure like the Human Genome Project?

And the speaker said:

I don't know.

In this old post, Eliezer is being insufficiently charitable and not steelmanning.

It is possible that I know that X can do A, but I don't know how X can do A. "Look at X and do A similarly to that" may be a reasonable response when I am asked how to do A (or when I am told that A is just impossible). It may fail in some cases (such as when I am incorrect in my assumption that X and the current situation are similar enough), but it isn't devoid of content to say that, and is more than an applause light.